


Teacher's pet

by cuivresdesax



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-21
Packaged: 2018-07-25 13:15:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7534144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuivresdesax/pseuds/cuivresdesax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mostly an AU fic,where Justin is a few years older than Brian and is his teacher in high school.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Justin stepped into the empty class room, and walked around. He was early, his first class wouldn't begin till an hour later. That was perfect, he needed time to process everything that had happened in the last days.

Less than 2 weeks ago, he was still an artist living in Denver, working half time in a gallery as an assistant manager. He was sharing an apartment with Ethan, his boyfriend for 2 years. His life was simple, and he could have described himself as content. Not happy, but content, and that wasn't so bad, many people didn't even have this.

But at 24, it still felt like it wasn't enough.

One afternoon, as he was working in the gallery, an average looking guy had walked up to him and told him he had been Ethan's lover for the last 6 months. Justin had been surprised and disappointed, but not really angry. Surprised, because Ethan had been the one who had pushed for a relationship, and later for moving in together, disappointed because Ethan claimed his love for Justin every day, calling him his inspiration, and the guy wasn't even good looking. But not angry, which made him realize he didn't love Ethan. He liked him, he cared for him, but there was no passion, no burning desire. He also realized that was exactly how he felt about his whole life. 

Now seemed a good time to try something new.

The same day, he decided that moving out was not enough, he would leave town. Too many painful memories. He had wanted to leave years ago, immediately after he had recovered enough from the bashing he suffered at his prom. His mother had convinced him to stay, telling him he was not the one that should leave, that he had done nothing wrong and that it would look like he was ashamed or frightened. 

So he did stay and went to an art school in Denver, got his degree, and got hired by the gallery in which he had been an intern. He was slowly starting to gain some recognition in the local art scene. But Denver was where his aggressor lived, not to mention all his little friends who used to bully him in high school. It was also where his father lived, the man who had cut all ties with him and hadn't visited him once during the months he had spent in the hospital and later in rehab.

First, he had to decide where he wanted to live. His best friend, Daphne, who was now living in Chicago, had been a student at Carnegie Mellon, in Pittsburgh. He had visited her a few times and remembered having a good time in the city. It was also far enough from Denver that nobody heard about him. It was still painful for him in Denver, when random people would walk to him and ask him if he was the kid who got bashed. That would never happen in Pittsburgh. 

He spent his afternoon looking on line the art galleries there and calling each of them, but there was no job opportunity. Still, he hit off on the phone with one gallery employee, a very nice woman, and while chatting she told him that a local high school was looking for an art teacher, the scheduled one having sent his resignation just days before school started. The school board was desperate to find someone, because the high school was not exactly in the best part of town and the pay was minimum.

Justin decided it was another sign. He called the school, faxed his resume, and 1 hour later, they faxed back his contract. He had taken advantage of their situation to ask to be allowed to use the class and the material for his own work and since they weren't in a position to refuse, it had been granted. So he had a job, starting 10 days later and a studio.

He gave his resignation to the gallery and phoned his mother to tell her the news. First, she panicked, as expected, then cried, then had been angry at Ethan, until finally admitting that it might be a good thing for him.

When Ethan, who had been away for a concert, came back the next day, Justin had already packed his stuff and was loading it in a rented truck. Ethan had yelled, cried, apologized but only got a reaction from Justin when he told him that he would leave with him, that they could start anew in Pittsburgh. It was Justin's turn to yell. Ethan's lover had only been too happy to give him plenty of details on their love encounters, many happening in his own bed while he was at work. It was Justin's turn to give those details to Ethan, making it perfectly clear that he wouldn't touch Ethan again if they were the last 2 men on earth.

He drove to his mother's house, and spent an emotional evening with her and his sister, promising to call at least once a week and visit on each school break. The following morning, at dawn, Justin hit the road in his rented truck and drove to Pittsburgh, enjoying the time alone. He arrived 2 days later, exhausted and spent the next day finding a place to live and unloading the truck. The rest of the week went in a blur, unpacking, finding a used car, furniture and preparing his lessons for school.

For the first time in his life, he had his own place, without a roommate or a so-called lover, and he loved the sensation. He had gone from his parents' place to a dorm room at college and then to moving in with Ethan. He felt free, and he loved it.

And so the first day of school found him far less nervous than he had expected, waiting for his first class to begin. He knew he was fine with the young children, he loved kids and was great with them. He regularly gave private lessons to children when he was in college so he also knew he could teach. But he had no experience with teenagers, and was a bit worried because he knew he still looked like one. When he had met the Dean, the man had asked for some ID, and then had sighed, saying he hadn't expected him to look so young. He then went on to explain how important it was to assert his authority immediately, or his classes would be hell.

Thankfully, the morning classes, with 9th and 10th graders, went fine, even if the kids were a bit undisciplined. He loved art so it was not hard for him to make the subject interesting. After lunch, he first had 2 classes of 11th graders. Again, even if the kids were a bit on the fresh side, he was able to maintain them interested and there was no incident. 

The last class of the day was the 12th graders, and the Dean had warned him that they were some strong personalities there. Justin had tried his best not to look like one of them, dressing as adult as he could, which basically for him meant no jeans, no sneakers, and a shirt. Still, he realized his efforts had been useless when his last class of 12th graders entered, laughing loudly, heckling, and pushing each other, one girl walked to him and asked him if he was new and that she could help him with homework. 

He walked up to the board and called loudly for his pupils to take their seats. That was met by whistles and calls of ass-licker and teacher's pet. Without a word, he picked up a piece of chalk and wrote his name and title on the board. There was a stunned silence. A bold kid raised his hand : “aren't you, like, supposed to finish high school and then become a teacher ?”. That was met by loud laughters. 

Justin sighed. “I'm 24, so that's not an issue.”

“Hey, waddyaknow, he got himself a fake ID !”. This came from a tall kid sitting near the door. A very handsome tall kid, to be precised. Fuck that, a beautiful tall kid. 

“So funny, Mr?”

“Kinney. So Blondie, you're really our teacher or you're acting some fantasy of yours ?”

“Call me Blondie again and you'll be acting some fantasy in the Dean's office, Mr Kinney”.

There was an appreciative “ooh” from the class and Kinney wisely chose not to answer. Justin put them all to work, and the class went on pretty good after that. The Kinney kid seemed pissed but he couldn't care. He had been bullied enough when he was in school to let it happen again now that he was there willingly.

The next weeks went on great. Justin found out he loved teaching and that he was good at it. He had decided to make an after-class collective project for volunteer students to be made for Christmas, and was surprised by the number of kids who showed up. He still had to face the usual heckle from time to time, but he always got the situation in control. Of course, one of the star hecklers was Brian Kinney, but he was a different kind of heckler.

Brian was making sexual innuendos all the time, always trying to make physical contact, insisting to stay after class to help him set up the room. Justin figured he had found out he was gay and was just a homophobe, so he kept a very cold attitude. 

Until one day, when he was passing in the halls and heard a guy yell “dirty fags”. Justin immediately went to the guy, who was about 15, and sent him to the Dean's office. When he looked back, he saw Kinney and his best friend, Michael Novotny, and slowly understood they were the ones being insulted. Novotny gave him a shy smile and mumbled an embarrassed “thanks”, while Kinney smirked, leaned over and said quietly “your gaydar is for shit”. Justin hurriedly turned around and went on his way.

Brian was gay and knew that he was too. Then, what where all the stupid sexual innuendos about? Was the kid hitting on him? Justin remembered having a crush on a school teacher when he was 15, but he had never acted on it. That Kinney kid certainly was fearless. And he was right, his gaydar was for shit, because it never occurred to him that soccer star and ultra-confident Kinney could be gay, or that he would have a gay guy as best friend.

After that, Brian got even bolder with his teacher. He had somehow found out that Justin was using the class as his art studio when school was over and sometimes had joined him there. Normally, he would just sit and watch Justin work, which was all right. In fact, Justin enjoyed his presence. The kid was relaxed at those times, and even if there was not much talking, they were comfortable with each other.

But after the hall incident, Kinney would keep trying to touch him, using every excuse he could think of (“hey, there's paint on your cheek, let me clean it up” - “you shouldn't sit like this, it's bad for your back, here that's a good position”) until Justin would get angry and tell him to get out, which he always did smirking a “later”.

A few days later, Justin was sitting in the teacher's lounge waiting for his next class when the maths teacher, a guy named Ted Schmidt, went to sit next to him and offered him a cup of coffee. Justin smiled and thanked him, and the 2 men starting chatting. Pretty soon, Justin realized the guy was hitting on him. He offered for the 2 of them to go have a drink at a bar called Woody's on Friday, and maybe to dancing to a club later. When Justin asked if there would be other faculty member there, Ted laughed and said, no, “but I bet the Kinney kid will be there, he's a wild one!”

“Oh? What do you mean, wild?”

Ted looked around to make sure no one could hear them. “Well, let's say that he's sexually very very active. And very aggressive. Do you know he even tried to hit on me once?”

Justin was speechless for a minute. Ted wasn't bad looking but he was at least 30. “Hit on you? Didn't he know who you are?”

Ted laughed. “Oh, he knew all right. It was at a club, Babylon, he was a bit drunk and probably stoned, but he knew what he was doing, no doubt. He grabbed me on the dance floor and tried to kiss and grope me. The thing is...” Ted lowered his voice again “...he's incredibly hot and he knows it. He's 17 and I'm pretty sure he's had more sex partners than most men my age. There's a backroom in this club, and Brian Kinney is there more than once at night, never with the same guy.”

Ted saw Justin's wide eyes and leaned to murmur in his ear “Rumor has it that he had an affair with a coach here when he was 14. And last year, he seemed pretty smitten with the art teacher, the guy you replaced.”

Justin felt himself blushing. “I'm not stupid, Ted, and I'm not interested in 17 years old kids.”

Ted immediately straightened up. “Of course not, that's not what I meant, sorry if I offended you. Besides, I think you're safe anyway”.

“What do you mean?”

“You're not his usual type. He likes his men dark and tall and buff”.

Justin couldn't resist teasing the man : “but he hit on you?”

Ted shrugged : “frankly, I think he was just trying to embarrass me. He probably had a bet with his little friend, you know, Michael Novotny, the cute kid always following him around. Anyway, you're OK for Woody's? Say 8 o'clock?”.

“Sure”.

 

Woody's was fun. It was Justin's first night out since moving in Pittsburgh 2 months ago, and he was having a great time. Ted turned out to be pretty cool, and introduced him to his other friends, Emmett, a tall lean guy who liked flashy and tight clothes, and a couple of lesbians, Lyndsay, also an art teacher but in college, and her partner, Melanie, a lawyer. The 5 of them got on great and Justin didn't hesitate when Emmett suggested they moved on to Babylon.

Babylon was a pretty normal gay club, in Justin's opinion, but he felt like dancing and it turned out Emmett was a great dancing companion, as tireless as he was. The 2 of them went on for hours, laughing and enjoying themselves, when Justin felt someone pressing on his back and 2 arms sneaking around his waist. He pushed the man away and turned angrily, coming face to face with the Kinney kid, smiling smugly. Justin rolled his eyes at him and turned back only to discover that Emmett had found himself a new dance partner. He decided to take a break from dancing when suddenly the lights changed, Beyonce's Halo was playing...and Brian was pulling him in his arms. Justin hesitated but, fuck, it was just a dance and he loved that song.

The 2 men swayed together, Brian holding him close but not too tight. Justin relaxed and enjoyed the dance. He felt one of his partner's hand going up in his hair, but decided he didn't mind, except his hair was pretty sweaty. Then that same hand went over his face, fingers caressing his cheek, then his throat. Justin swallowed nervously and felt Brian's breath on his cheek. His other hand went down his back but thankfully stopped at his waist band. Then the song was ending, and everything went fast. The hand went on his ass, the one on his throat went on his neck, holding his face, and Brian was kissing him. Not Happening. Justin broke the embrace immediately and glared at Brian who looked back at him defiantly.

“What the fuck's your problem?” yelled Justin.

“My problem? You're the one with a stick up your ass” answered mockingly Brian.

“I'm you're fucking teacher, you don't kiss me!”

Brian tried to grab him “but I do want to be fucking my teacher”.

Justin pushed him back, furious. “Seriously, what's your problem? You've got a quota of teachers you've got to fuck that's not filled yet for this year ?”

Brian looked at him blankly. “Mr Schmidt's been talking to you?”

“Whatever, Brian. For the last time, keep your fucking hands away from me”.

Justin walked away to the bar and noticed Ted who had obviously watched the whole scene. “Guess you are his type after all...”. Justin had enough. He said good night and went home.

After that, Brian's attitude changed. He stopped joining Justin after class and kept his hands to himself. But every time Justin would look at him, there was mockery in his eyes, that Justin liked even less. He tried his best to just ignore him and to keep on with his work.

But one morning, about 2 weeks later, he walked into class, early as usual, and found a bloody baseball bat lying in the middle of his desk.


	2. Chapter 2

Justin had been seething with anger all day. He had put the baseball bat on a corner of the class, and waited for the last class of the day. When the bell rang, he asked for Brian to stay. The other students snickered, not surprised, Brian was always getting himself in trouble.

Brian remained comfortably seated. “Mr Taylor, what can I do for you? You know you can ask me anything”.

Justin picked up the baseball bat and threw it on Brian's desk. “Is this your idea of a joke?”

Brian looked puzzled. “I have no idea what you're talking about”.

“Cut the crap, Brian! You seem to have this crazy obsession about me but now you're going too far. You really think you can get away with threatening me?”

Brian stood up slowly, getting angry too. “I am not obsessed with you, stop flattering yourself. You're hot, and I'm sure you're a great fuck. I hit on you as on do on hundred of guys. You'd love it but you're just too chicken. Now what's the story with this thing? Someone gave this to you?” 

“As if you don't know!” shouted Justin. The 2 men stood staring at each other in silence for a few seconds, before Justin asked coldly “Why did the previous art teacher resign?”

“Why the fuck should I know?”

“You really don't know much, do you? But I found this among some leftover canvas.” Justin walked to the back of his room and showed Brian an unfinished painting, where the model clearly was Brian, naked, in what seemed a post coital pose.

“Obviously, you had sex with him. So why did he resign 10 days before school started?”

Brian looked at him blankly. Then, in a very calm voice, he answered : “none of your fucking business”. And he left the room, leaving a very frustrated Justin behind. 

Nothing new happened the rest of the week. Justin didn't tell anyone about the bat and completely ignored Brian during classes. Since Brian also seemed to be avoiding him, all went well.

But on Thursday, the door to his classroom had been painted in red paint, with the words “dirty fag”. The Dean was furious and reported the incident to the police. It was nice to be supported by the Dean, who told Justin clearly that he would not tolerate any kind of discrimination in his school. Still, Justin didn't feel like mentioning the bat or Brian's inappropriate behavior.

The next week, on Friday, as school had just ended, he stayed in class as usual to work on his project, when he heard someone walking hurriedly to his room. It was Ted, holding a paper, and looking sinister. “Justin...you need to look at this”.

Justin took the paper. The top half was a picture of him he had never seen. He was lying on a parking ground, wearing a tuxedo, his head covered in blood. The lower half was a description of his attack, insisting on Justin's disgusting behavior during prom, and how he was rightfully punished. Ted put a hand on Justin's shoulder and said gently : “It's on every car windshield in the parking lot, and hundreds more lying on the ground. I'm sorry Justin”. 

Hours later, Justin lay on his couch, feeling totally empty. It had all been a nightmare. The police had been called and since there were cameras in the parking lot, hopefully an arrest would be made soon. The Dean and the other faculty members had all stood up with him, telling him it was a disgrace. Many students had offered him support too, telling him how awful it was that he had been bashed. Of course, Brian hadn't been one of them.

It shook him, to be faced again by such hatred. He had hoped for a new start, and he was still stuck back in time to the bashing. He had to answer police questions; the officer had been nicer that the ones in Denver, but it still had been an unpleasant moment. Once again, he made no mention of Brian when asked if he had suspicion on the author. He couldn't understand how Brian, just as queer as himself, could stoop so low just because he wouldn't fuck him. 

At 11 pm, he realized there was no way he could get any sleep. So he changed his clothes and headed for a club he had heard of, Boy Toy. He was happy to note that the place was packed and that, as he had hoped, there was nobody he knew, in particular there was no sign of Brian or his side-kick. So he just let go and forgot about everything.

 

Justin woke up the next day, in his bed, with a massive hangover. He stayed still for a while, hoping for the dizziness to go away. Unfortunately, he slowly realized that he was not alone. He turned his head slowly and...no. He got of bed as quickly as he could and barely made it in time to throw up in the toilet. Then he put his head under the faucet and let cold water pour for a while. He wrapped a towel around his waist and walked back to his bedroom. Brian was waking up.

Justin turned away and went to make himself some coffee, knowing he would be needing it. Brian joined him after a while, stark naked and looking perfectly refreshed. Justin poured him a cup without a word and Brian helped himself with sugar. 

“So, Mr Taylor, what a night, right?”

“Did we fuck?”

“You mean you don't remember? Pity...”

“Brian, I'm not in the mood for games. Did. We. Fuck?”

Brian took his time sipping his coffee; he then got up and walked back to the bedroom, dressing himself. Justin followed him. “Brian, do you know what sex without consent is? It's fucking rape Brian! So answer the damn question!”

Brian sat on the bed and lit a cigarette. “Oh, I do know about consent, and I also know about inappropriate relationships. Like, teacher-student, totally inappropriate. So I'm not sure who the victim is here...”

Justin had to lean against the wall to catch his breath. “You're a fucking asshole Brian. It wasn't enough for you to dig my past, was it? What drug did you give me?”

Brian laughed. “You were already completely tweaked when I found you, I didn't give you anything.”

“Get the fuck out of my apartment.”

Brian stood up slowly and left. 1 minute later, Justin's cell rang, the number unregistered. It was Brian of course, who whispered “I forgot to tell you...but with me being obsessed with you and all...I had to have some memories of our first night...I may have taken some pretty pictures without your consent...I'm sure you don't mind”. And he hang up, while a totally dejected Justin sat on his floor.

 

Justin would never know how he managed to go to school on Monday, but he did, and had all his classes, even the one with Brian, refraining all the time from spitting on him. Brian, as usual, was perfectly calm, even indifferent. The next 2 days went by without contact between the 2 men, until Wednesday, when Brian stepped in his empty class after school was over.

“Get out.”

“Such manners...2 little things. You see, there's this huge party friday in a house out of town, some rich kid whose parents are away. I need a car to get there. So you're going to let me have yours for the week-end. Then, there's no way I'll be able to do you little project for Monday, so just make it for me...and make sure I get a good grade...”

Justin stared at him for a long moment. He took a deep breath, then walked out of his classroom.

“Hey, where you going?” asked a surprised Brian.

“To the Dean's office” answered Justin, not turning back to answer.

“Oh, what you're going to tell him? “Big bad Kinney is blackmailing me” ? How are you going to explain the blackmailing part?” snarled Brian, quickly catching up with him.

“I'm going to tell him I had sex with a student” answered Justin, walking up the stairs to the Dean's office.

Brian stopped dead in his tracks. “You..you're bluffing...”

“Watch me!”

Brian was panicking. He ran after Justin, who was already at the top of the stairs and stood in front of him. “You'll get fired! And he'll call the cops. You'll get arrested, you'll go to jail!”

“That's my problem, isn't it?”. Justin's was calm and determined, and Brian suddenly had no doubt that he was dead serious. That was not what he had planned. He couldn't let the teacher do this. 

Justin walked around Brian and continued straight towards the Dean's office. He was only 2 doors away. Brian didn't stop to think, he ran after Justin, grabbed him from behind with one hand around his waist, lifting him of the ground and one hand on his mouth, muffling his surprised yelp.

He managed somehow to get a door open with his elbow, walked straight into the room and pushed the door closed with his foot. Justin was struggling hard and he knew he couldn't keep him long. He put his mouth near Justin's ear and whispered “We didn't fuck”.

He felt Justin stiffen. “I'm going to let you go, promise you'll listen to me before you do anything, all right?”

He felt Justin nodding. He slowly released his grip on the teacher, who quickly walked away from him, looking furious.

“We didn't fuck” he repeated. “That night, you were completely wasted; at one point you went to the backroom with some troll who couldn't believe his luck. When you came back, it was obvious you were too tweaked to know what you were doing. So me and Michael, we took you home in your car. You passed out during the drive. We carried you to your bed, stripped you to your briefs and left”. 

“How did you know where my car was? Or where I live?”

“I know your car, I've seen you driving to school. Michael stood with you while I looked for it around the club. And you had your driver's licence in your wallet.”

“That doesn't explain the photos”.

“When I got home, I realized I had your keys in my pocket, so I went back to give them to you and...well, to check on you. You were still sleeping. I don't know what went into my head then, but I stripped, took out your underwear and went to bed with you. But I didn't fuck you, I didn't even kiss you. Christ! You really think I'm such a perv that I would fuck an unconscious man??”.

“What did you do then?”

“I was angry at you, I thought that since you were so convinced I was the one harassing you at school, I might as well take advantage of the situation. So I took some pictures of the two of us naked in bed. And when you woke up...well you know the rest.”

“That's despicable, Brian”.

“That's what you thought of me already !” spat Brian. There was a silence before he went on. “I just thought I'd lead you on a little, to get back to you. But you were so angry at me, I got carried away. It went too far, I didn't mean any harm.”

There was a silence, then Brian took out his cell and handed it to Justin. “All the pictures are in there, I swear I didn't show them to anyone and didn't put them anywhere else. Just erase them”.

Justin took the phone, opened the files; there were a dozen pictures, he erased them and gave the phone back to Brian. Then, without a word, he left the room.

2 days later, he got a call from the police station. The videos clearly showed the guy putting the papers on the windshields, the Dean and him were expected to come and see if they could identify him. He immediately drove there and was showed some pictures. It was a little kid with glasses, that Justin vaguely recognized as one of his students in 9th grade. 

The kid and his parents were later interrogated, and it turned out the kid was just bitter because he considered himself extremely talented and Justin didn't praise his work enough. He had made some research on the internet and had found out about the bashing.

Justin walked out of the station and phoned Ted. A few minutes later, he stepped into a diner on Liberty avenue, hoping that Brian would be there. Ted had told him that Michael's mother worked there and that the 2 kids always went there after school, doing their homework and getting free snacks.

He spotted Brian immediately, sitting in a booth with Michael. He walked up to him : “hey”

Brian looked up, obviously surprised “what are you doing here?”

“I need to talk to you. In private. Come on”. And Justin walked to an empty booth, joined a few minutes later by Brian, who had regained his usual bored attitude.

“I'm sorry. I wrongly assumed that you were the one harassing me, I shouldn't have done that. So, again, I'm sorry.”

“Yeah, well, sorry's bullshit”, mumbled Brian.

“Right, so you're not sorry for your little stunt at my place?”

Brian remained silent.

“Tell me what happened with the art teacher”.

Brian sighed. “We fucked twice. It happened just before school ended. Then he had to go see his family during the summer. When he came back, in august, he tried to contact me, I blew him of. He started to stalk me, so I got angry and was a bit...harsh on him. Told him he meant nothing, that he was just a pity fuck, and to leave me alone or I would call the cops on him. Guess he got scared...I haven't heard of him since.”

There was a long silence, then Brian spoke again, very softly. “I don't have a thing for teachers, you know. It just happened, I never pursued them. You're different...you're just so beautiful. And you're an amazing teacher, you're passionate, I love attending your classes. And I love watching you work. Why do you think I spent hours sitting watching you paint? That's why I got so angry at you, that you could think that I would ever harm you”.

Justin looked straight at him, wondering how he could have been so wrong about Brian. He was an artist, he was supposed to be intuitive, but he had never seen the complexity of Brian Kinney.

“Brian, again, I'm sorry, and I mean it. Now listen to me. I can't pass the fact that I'm your teacher, and frankly I'm absolutely not ready for a relationship right now, for reasons that have nothing to do with you. But I can't deny that I find you incredibly attractive, and not only in a sexual way. So let's just start again, you and me. Just trying to know each other.”

Brian looked doubtful “I don't want to be your fucking friend”.

“I don't either. We can try something different. You could start by being my model? See if we can just enjoy each other's company. And maybe, once you graduate, once I've moved on, if we still want it, we could try more”.

Brian smiled slowly. “hey, it's only time, right?”.


End file.
